Food safety makes progress in China

And by "making progress" I'm talking about progressing to 1920 standards in the West. It's nice to think that the FDA and other food safety organizations around the world rarely took notice of the additives and that it took sickness of 50,000+ in China plus a few deaths for everyone to really step up the safety standards.

Substances commonly used as industrial dyes, insecticides and drain cleaners were included on a list of illegal food additives China released Monday as part of a monthslong government crackdown aimed at improving the country's shoddy food safety record.

Among the 17 banned substances was boric acid, commonly used as an insecticide, which is mixed with noodles and meatballs to increase elasticity, a statement posted on the Ministry of Health Web site said. Also forbidden was industrial formaldehyde and lye, used in making soap and drain cleaner and added to water used to soak some types of dried seafood to make the products appear fresher and bigger.

A scandal over melamine-tainted infant formula, which likely killed six babies and sickened 294,000 others earlier this year, prompted the government food safety campaign last week.

The list of banned substances was released by a government committee tasked with weeding out the practice of augmenting food products with nonfood additives. Local authorities were also warned to watch out for another 10 food additives that are often used excessively.

"This list provides clues for relevant departments as they carry out this campaign," said the statement, adding that the list was not comprehensive.

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Shoe-gate continues

From ABC :

"There doesn't appear to be any over-reaction" on the part of American agents, Donovan says, confirming the Secret Service agents who poured into the room did not draw their weapons... At the press conference, the head of the president's security detail scrambled to the lectern but not until the second shoe had been thrown.

Yeah, definitely no over-reaction. Read More......

SEC oversight? What SEC oversight? What oversight, period?

Well of course the Madoff arrest raises questions, but whether or not the SEC was providing oversight is hardly one of them. When is the last time we saw an active SEC? Hedge funds were popping up constantly and the GOP sold us on the benefits of a so-called free market system, so no need to employ an active SEC. (Where those lovely folks are today is perhaps a bigger question. When we find them, try not to throw shoes in their general direction.) I suspect Madoff won't be the last scandal to emerge, though possibly the largest.

What jumps out to me is not the lack of oversight or not the actual problem, but the large organizations who are taking massive hits. Surely the big players such as BNP Paribas, HSBC, Santander and UBS don't honestly think that the rest of the world believes the story of shock, do they? This is such an insiders club full of brainpower and statisticians, so I can't imagine that the big banks and their teams of researchers did not detect anything funny going on. How is it that others saw the red flags and Phil Gramm's UBS didn't? People see what they want to see and it sounds like some liked the results, no matter how far fetched they sounded.

What would be nice here is if we started seeing the gutless wonders in Congress hold someone accountable in this systemic failure. Across the board, this has been a failure and Madoff is only a small but predictable crumb of this disaster. And to think neither Americans nor the world want to invest in this steaming pile of dog doo. Unfortunately the future and current retirement plans of the country are at risk so perhaps someone in Congress can find it important enough to develop a spine, instead of another goddamn nightly news video clip. Read More......

Nate Silver: Harry Reid has been exceptionally ineffective as the Democrats' majority leader

From Nate Silver at FiveThirtyEight:

Harry Reid has been exceptionally ineffective as the Democrats' majority leader.

The number of cloture votes skyrocketed in the 110th Congress following the Democratic takeover of the Senate and Reid's assumption of the majority leader position. The Senate voted on 112 cloture motions in the 110th, exactly double the number (56) of cloture votes in the 109th Congress, and two-and-a-half times as many as the average number of cloture votes (44) over the previous nine Congresses. Of these cloture motions, 51 were rejected (meaning that opponents of a bill succeeded in blocking an up-or-down vote) and 61 were passed....

I don't imagine the culture of the Senate changing in the new Congress so long as it's under Reid's direction, and Reid is highly unlikely to be replaced. There is some chance, however, that Obama rather than Reid will dictate the tone, particularly if Joe Biden is dispatched to Capitol Hill fairly often....

The bottom line, however, is that the Republicans are filibustering more and more often because they can get away with it. If Reid can't get them to pay a greater public price, then the Democrats ought to find somebody else who can.

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Perhaps

Florida Governor Charlie Crist gets married.

Crist kissed Rome briefly at the end of the ceremony — perhaps too briefly. She put her hands on his face and kissed him again. Afterward, the couple walked out of the church and addressed waiting reporters.

"She's a beautiful first lady. I couldn't be more excited," Crist said after the ceremony...

I'm hardly the expert on how heterosexual men talk about their brides on their wedding day. But this doesn't sound like it. Read More......

Bayh attempting to form Blue Dog coalition in the Senate

Basically, this is intended to be a carbon copy of the Blue Dogs in the House. They're basically a coalition of extremely conservative Democrats, often from the south. Democrats who often screw us on key legislation. But the thing is, even without a Blue Dog coalition in the Senate, those Democrats often screw us too. Democrats don't "do" party unity, so I suspect the Blue Dogs in the House would vote with the Republicans whether or not they had formed an official club. Still, considering that pretty much every Democrat in the Senate is a Blue Dog when it comes to any issue even vaguely relating to national security, patriotism, or any other time the Republicans threaten to be mean to them, it's not clear if Bayh's new group will have any impact at all - other than to codify a pro-Republican spinelessness that Democrats already had all along. Read More......

Caroline Kennedy wants the NY Senate seat

Game on. Apparently, Caroline Kennedy is now working to get the appointment from Governor Paterson:

Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of an American political dynasty, has decided she will pursue the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, a person told of her decision said Monday.

The decision came after a series of deeply personal and political conversations, in which Ms. Kennedy, who friends describe as unflashy but determined, wrestled with whether to give up what has been a lifetime of avoiding the spotlight.

Ms. Kennedy will ask that Gov. David A. Paterson consider her for the appointment. The governor was traveling to Utica today could not immediately be reached for comment.

If appointed, Ms. Kennedy would fill the seat once held by her uncle, the late Robert F. Kennedy.

Ms. Kennedy has been making calls this morning to alert political figures to her interest.

Whether or not this appointment makes political sense for Governor Paterson is an open question. Whoever gets picked has to run in 2010 and again in 2012. A couple weeks ago, I wrote this analysis and I think it still holds:

It could be a good political move for Governor Paterson. Rep. Nita Lowey would have been an obvious choice to replace Senator Clinton, but she took her name out of contention. Picking any other N.Y. House member would just get all the other members of the delegation irritated at Governor Paterson. I keep hearing Andrew Cuomo eventually wants to be Governor so the Senate would be a detour (and I doubt he'll challenge Paterson in a primary. That last gubernatorial primary didn't go so well for him.)

But, one thing is sure: New York politics are never, ever dull.

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Holiday sales are down, badly

AP

From Nov. 28, the day after Thanksgiving known as "Black Friday," through Dec. 6, luxury sales dropped 34.5 percent compared to the same period last year, while overall apparel sales fell 22.9 percent. Electronic sales fell 22.3 percent.

I always tell people to check Amazon.com. I have always always always found cheaper deals for the same product by checking Amazon, and you often don't pay tax. Can't recommend it enough. And this year especially, when everyone is worried about their money, it's a must. Read More......

Is your marriage worth more than a taco?

Yet another article about how intolerance is okay, even laudable, but intolerance of intolerance is a crime against humanity.

Yes, it's another newspaper commentary about how bigotry against gays - unlike racism and anti-Semitism - is just another legitimate point of view, and anybody who stands up to bigots is the true bigot.

Oh where to begin.

This time, the victim of the gays is one Margie Christoffersen, until recently the hostess at El Coyote Mexican Cafe, a popular gay hangout in Los Angeles.

You see, poor Margie loves the gays. But now no one likes her because all she did was take the political step of donating $100 in an effort to rip away the marriages of 20,000 of her potential customers, and deny the right to marry to the rest of them, just as Margie's intellectual forefathers did to black and white couples from the 1960s back to slavery. And to think, those horrible gay people, who have now lost their civil rights thanks to Margie, whose children have been thrown into legal limbo as a result of her bigoted political activism, yes, those uppity gay people consider their marriages more important than Margie's right to serve a taco.

Oh, the barbarians.

It doesn't matter if Margie's political activism was motivated by her religion. Her activism was bigoted. The Baptist church's use of the Bible to justify slavery was bigoted. The use of religion to hold women back for centuries (millenia) was bigoted. It doesn't matter if your discriminatory views are religiously-based, that doesn't exonerate them from being wrong, it doesn't prove that they're not bigoted, and it doesn't mean you can't be held be held responsible for your own public political actions.

'God made me do it' is the latest 'dog ate my homework' in bigot circles. Yeah, well God made me write this post.

If God is the ultimate trump card, and we're not permitted to criticize, or fight back, against those who wield God against us, then it was wrong for us, per the Catholic bishops, to vote for Obama or any Democrat who's pro-choice. It was wrong for us, per Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson, to do anything pro-gay, pro-woman, or to support to the ACLU. Hell, it was wrong for the overwhelming majority of the country to chastise Falwell and Robertson for saying that gays and feminists and the ACLU caused 9/11. It was just his religious opinion, after all, and I thought that was sacrosanct?

Spoiler warning: It's time to talk about the Nazis.

And let's have a word about the Nazis. Oh, everyone hates invoking the Nazis, because somehow remembering the sins of the past belittles those crimes (yes, better to forget them, apparently). But if the Nazis were religiously motivated, would that make what they did okay? Or at the very least, would it make us wrong to seek retribution against them? Of course everyone says "no, it was WRONG what the Nazis did, and of course we should have punished them afterwards." Really, why? If you believe that someone should not be punished for their religious views, then why would you punish Nazis who exterminated Jews because they believed their religion demanded it - at least those Nazis who truly believed it was their calling from God to kill millions?

In fact, we all believe that some things go too far, and that even religion can't justify everything. But we conveniently forget such rules of civility and humanity, forget that even religion isn't always a 'get out of moral condemnation free' card, when gays and lesbians are the victims.

No one would dare suggest that religious-based racism or anti-Semitism is admirable, principled, or even tolerable. No one would be surprised if a Baptist hostess at a mostly-black-clientele restaurant were ostracized for her support of miscegenation laws. No one would question it if Jewish customers refused to visit a deli where the Christian hostess donated $100 to David Duke's run for the Senate back in the 90s. But when gays are the target, when gays fight back, somehow the old rules no longer apply. Prejudice becomes virtue and the victim becomes the oppressor.

Then again, my Bible says something about "an eye for an eye." So maybe Margie can simply offer us one of her eyes - in the name of religious tolerance, of course. Then we'll just call it even. Read More......

US homes decline over $2 trillion in value

It's amazing to think that some out there still believe the "less regulation is better" drivel. Then again, Sam Zell somehow believes that the real estate market will bottom out in the spring and then march forward. What more do people need to see before they accept what a failure the Republican model really is?

Homes in the United States have lost trillions of dollars in value during 2008, with nearly 11.7 million American households now owing more on their mortgage than their homes are worth, real estate website Zillow.com said on Monday.

U.S. homes are set to lose well over $2 trillion in value during 2008, according to an analysis of recent Zillow Real Estate Market Reports.

Home values declined 8.4 percent year-over-year during the first three quarters of this year, compared to the same period in 2007, the reports showed.

U.S. home values lost $1.9 trillion from the first of the year through the end of the third quarter, and will probably fall further in the fourth quarter. One in seven of all homeowners, or 14.3 percent, were "underwater" by the end of the third quarter, the reports showed.

"This year marked the acceleration of the market correction, and is likely to end with the eighth consecutive quarter of declines in home values," Dr. Stan Humphries, Zillow's vice president of data and analytics, said in a statement.

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Obama and Biden will arrive in D.C. for the inauguration by train

From the Presidential Inauguration Committee comes word that the President-elect and VP-elect will make the journey to DC for the inauguration by train:

Today, the 2009 Presidential Inaugural Committee announced that the President-elect, Vice President-elect and their families will travel - via railroad -- to Washington, D.C. on Saturday, January 17th and host events along the way in Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore. The trip marks the final leg of a journey that began on the steps of the Old State Capitol in Illinois and will culminate on the steps of the United States Capitol.

"As part of the most open and accessible Inauguration in history, we hope to include as many Americans as possible who wish to participate, but can't be in Washington," said Emmett S. Beliveau, Executive Director of the 2009 Presidential Inaugural Committee. "These events will allow us to do that while honoring the rich history and tradition of previous inaugural journeys."

In the tradition of past Presidents-elect, the daylong trip will include a series of events on the way to Washington, DC. Saturday morning, President-elect Obama and his family will hold an event in Philadelphia before boarding a train bound for Wilmington, Delaware, where he will be joined by Vice President-elect Biden and his family. Together, the families will travel to Baltimore, Maryland, and hold another event, before finally arriving in Washington, D.C. on Saturday evening.

In keeping with the theme of the 2009 Inauguration, "Renewing America's Promise," the President-elect and Vice President-elect will hold events in some of the cities instrumental to that promise: Philadelphia, where that promise was realized; Baltimore, where that promise was defended, then immortalized in our national anthem; and Washington, where Americans of all backgrounds will gather over four days, united in common purpose and resolved to renew that promise once more.

I think this sound pretty cool.

It won't, however, be quite as easy to get the rest of the attendees to D.C.:

Even if only half of the projected 2 million to 4 million people show up for next month's presidential inauguration, the Washington region's roadways and transit systems will be too pressed to handle the crush, planners say.

Officials are working out details of their transportation plan for the event, but the capacity of the area's transit and road infrastructure, combined with strict security, means residents and potential visitors need to have realistic expectations about how quickly they will be able to move around on Jan. 20, officials said.

I am very excited about the inauguration and having a new president. I will admit feeling a little claustrophobic about the crowds descending on this city. Well, not so much about the crowds, but whether the city is prepared to handle the crowds.

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The shoe thrower has captured the attention and the sentiment of many in the Middle East

Bush went on another "surprise" visit to Iraq to burnish his credentials. Instead, he got shoes thrown at him. The guy who did it has a fan base:

The hurling of shoes at U.S. President George W. Bush on his farewell visit to Iraq strikes many in the Middle East as a fittingly furious comment on what they see as his calamitous legacy in the region.

Arab and Iranian TV stations have gleefully replayed the clip, sometimes in slow motion, of an Iraqi reporter calling Bush a "dog" and throwing his shoes at him -- the Middle East's tastiest insults -- at a Baghdad news conference on Sunday.

The affront was a twisted echo of the triumphal moment for Bush when joyous Iraqis used their footwear to beat a statue of Saddam Hussein toppled by U.S. invading troops in 2003.

"It indicates how much antagonism he's been able to create in the whole region," former Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher told Reuters, adding that the incident was regrettable.

Bush had harmed America's reputation and the friendship many had felt for it. "Despite past mistakes in its policies, there was always a redeeming factor. In this particular case, there doesn't seem to have ever been a redeeming factor," Maher said.

Muntazer al-Zaidi, who works for independent al-Baghdadiya television, has shot to local stardom for his attack on Bush and his cry: "This is a goodbye kiss from the Iraqi people, dog."

He has also won instant fame abroad -- a poem on an Islamist website praises him as "a hero with a lion's heart" -- although the Iraqi government slated his "barbaric and ignominious act."

Al Jazeera explains the significance:

In Iraqi culture, throwing shoes at someone is a sign of contempt.

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Monday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

A new week begins. I don't think we'll top last week in terms of unexpected drama. The Blago scandal continues unabated, mostly because the creep won't quit. He seems intent on causing as much damage for other Democrats as he can.

Obama is doing another press conference this afternoon, ostensibly to talk about energy and environmental issues. Not unimportant issues. Let's see if he gets to talk about those subjects.

Christmas is in 10 days. Yikes. It feels like the holidays crept up on me this year, mostly because I haven't been paying attention.

Let's get it started... Read More......

Bush included bailout loophole to allow CEO payouts

Helping friends until the bitter end. Only this Congress - who has been much too shy about taking control during the end of one of the most failed administrations in decades - could allow this to happen. The Democrats are going to have to do much better than this because the only thing they have going now is chaos within the GOP ranks. The Democrats make it so hard to respect them as a power when they blow every imaginable opportunity that they face.

Congress wanted to guarantee that the $700 billion financial bailout would limit the eye-popping pay of Wall Street executives, so lawmakers included a mechanism for reviewing executive compensation and penalizing firms that break the rules.

But at the last minute, the Bush administration insisted on a one-sentence change to the provision, congressional aides said. The change stipulated that the penalty would apply only to firms that received bailout funds by selling troubled assets to the government in an auction, which was the way the Treasury Department had said it planned to use the money.

Now, however, the small change looks more like a giant loophole, according to lawmakers and legal experts. In a reversal, the Bush administration has not used auctions for any of the $335 billion committed so far from the rescue package, nor does it plan to use them in the future. Lawmakers and legal experts say the change has effectively repealed the only enforcement mechanism in the law dealing with lavish pay for top executives.

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Australia moves forward with green energy investment

Obama ought to do the same when he arrives as well. It has to be done and the economy will need the focus so why drag it out? From AFP:

Australia will bring forward millions of dollars in funding for solar and other renewable energy sources, in part to help boost the economy, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said Sunday.

Rudd said the government's 500 million dollar (329 million US) renewable energy fund will now be spent over the next 18 months rather than spread over six years as previously planned.

"It's time for Australia to begin the solar revolution, a renewable energy revolution and we have got to fund it for the future" he told reporters in his home state of Queensland.

"It's good for jobs, it's good for stimulus, it's good for acting on climate change."

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Pawnbrokers see rise in business

Looking back at the election of 2000, remember the talk about the "CEO President" who trashed every business he ever touched? Bush has consistently used other peoples money and then blown it. He's done such a bang up job this time, people in the largest economy are borrowing from pawnbrokers. What a country he's leaving.

There are as many as 15,000 pawnbrokers across the United States. As the U.S. recession deepens, pawnbrokers -- long seen as a lender of last resort -- are noting a rise in business.

No national body keeps statistics for the sector, but proprietors across the spectrum say they are thriving as home foreclosures spiral and bank credit remains scarce.

"Business is good," Mo Money owner Eric Baker said. The store, which makes loans on anything from a motor home to guns to lawnmowers and jewelry, says turnover is up by around 20 percent over a year ago on a broader range of clients.

"You are seeing some bigger stuff, you're seeing some people you probably wouldn't have seen," he said.

Newer clients include struggling contractors like Lane, as well as cash-strapped real estate, land and mortgage brokers, seeking loans, which are pegged by state law at 22 percent over 90 days.

"They are coming in with the houseboats, the quads, the Harleys... The toys they can live without, sitting in the garage," Baker said, sitting in his office at the store, where several of the staff have pistols holstered in their belts.

Across town, William Jachimek, a 25-year veteran of the trade, said cash-strapped mortgage brokers started coming in about a year ago and now account for 10 percent of business.

"We had one mortgage broker who pawned his wife's jewelry and their Viking oven," says the owner of five pawn shops who takes "everything that can be sold on E-bay" as collateral.

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The Secret Service and the shoe

Josh Marshall raises an interesting point:

But watching the video of the Iraqi journalist throwing his shoes at President Bush, I could not help but notice that it took an uncomfortably long period of time for anyone to get to the assailant and, even more, much longer than I would have expected for anyone who looked like Secret Service to get to the president and block his body or get him out of harm's way.

Not to mention, the guy got two rounds off at the president before anyone got to him, and they still didn't get to the president by then. And as an aside, did anybody else notice how the Iraqi leader just stood there, as the shoes were flying, not even blinking, like this was just another day at the office? Read More......